Janelle Monae: "My Album Was Clearly the Best of 2013"
2013 has been a good year for Janelle Monae. The inventive R&B songstress released her second album, The Electric Lady, to critical acclaim and enthusiastic fan response. Eclectic, thought-provoking and damn fun, it's been popping up on a ton of Best of 2013 lists, including our own 41 Best Albums of the Year. Just ahead of her New Year's Eve performance at Atlanta's 25th Annual Peach Drop Powered by M&M's Peanut (Georgia's riotous take on the Times Square ball drop), Fuse spoke with Monae about her musical mentors Prince and Erykah Badu, what's in store for 2014 and her interesting pick for the Best Album of 2013.
The Electric Lady is popping up on a ton of year-end lists, and rightly so. What's your favorite album of the last year?
The same one that you just mentioned: The Electric Lady. I'm honestly a fan of it, outside of being one of the narrators of the album and the singer. So many amazing artists that I'm a fan of are all on this album, from Erykah Badu to Miguel to Solange Knowles to one of my musical heroes, Prince. It was clearly the best album that came out of 2013 from a musical standpoint. From the live instrumentation on it—horn arrangements, the orchestra—to the concept and the videos, everything about this project made it my favorite of 2013.
So you actually sit down and listen to your own album for fun?
Yeah, absolutely. I perform the songs and I really believe in the message and everything that it stands for. The total concept of The Electric Lady is what it means to be a 21st century woman, and how community is involved. I look at "Victory" when I want to be motivated and inspired, or I put on "Q.U.E.E.N." or the title track or "Ghetto Woman." There are so many great songs. It's a versatile album. I get everything I really want to hear with this album.
You just opened for Prince at Madison Square Garden. Is that nerve-wracking or are you two pretty tight at this point?
He and I are close friends, and he's a mentor to me as well. We've had a lot of private conversations about the state of the music industry and he really does give me insight. I feel comfortable around him—we're like family. Whenever we're together and the two bands are playing, it's all love. It's like musical theater. We're kids playing around.
There are so many great collaborations on The Electric Lady. Did you write the music together or present your collaborators with an already-finished song?
A lot of them came from organic conversations. Erykah [Badu] and I are really close, she's a very close friend of mine. She's also like a mentor and has been in the industry a while. And "Q.U.E.E.N." was inspired by one of our private conversations about women and gender roles and discrimination and people who are marginalized. We really wanted to bring community together and do an anthem for women and those who are oppressed. It's for encouraging and inspiring them to love themselves for their unique characteristics, even if it makes other people uncomfortable. Everything in the songs are things [the collaborator and I] talked about. It could have been a conversation from six months ago, and I'll say, "I think this will be a great song, remember when we talked about this?" And the song with Miguel, "PrimeTime," that was one of my favorites. I think he has a great way of speaking to people, especially women. We wanted to create a love song, and it's my favorite love song of 2013 [Note: Ours too! It's on Fuse's 41 Best Songs of 2013]. Also, I got a chance to produce all the artists I worked with. For them to allow me to come in and guide them and to trust me in that way, I'm forever grateful.
2m
23m
20m
21m
22m
45m
2m
2m
41m
20m
2m
1h 27m
20m
19m
20m
44m
41m
21m
4m
5m
8m
1h 33m
1h 49m
20m
41m
1m
2m
2m
2m
20m
2m
1h 39m
1h 1m
41m
2m
3m
41m
21m
20m
2m
42m
2m
21m
1m
23m
3m
1h 35m
41m
1m
1m
2m
23m
5m
1m
21m
1m
46s
1m
2m
1m
1m
2m
41m
1h 28m
21m
1m
1m
1m
5m
1m
9m
1m
2m
21m
1m
3m
1m
1m
1m
1m
1m
1m
1m
1m
1m
44m
1h 34m
22m
1h 45m
1h 2m
1m
1m
10m
1h 34m
23m
45m
44m